What is an Environmental Management System?

Environmental Management System (EMS) refers to the management of an organization's environmental programs in a comprehensive, systematic,
planned and documented manner. It includes the organizational structure, planning and resources for developing, implementing and maintaining policy for
environmental protection.

More formally, EMS is "a system which integrates procedures and processes for training of personnel, monitoring, summarizing, and reporting of specialized
environmental performance information to internal and external stakeholders."

The most widely used standard, and the one which the Forestry Services Branch has committed to is
ISO 14001:2004.

Source: Wikipedia

What does accredited certification to the ISO 14001:2004 standard mean?

The accredited certification process is expected to ensure the organization has an Environmental Management System, suitable for the nature of its activities,
products and services, that conforms to the requirements of ISO 14001:2004, and in particular can demonstrate for the defined scope that the organization:

has defined an environmental policy appropriate to the nature, scale and environmental impacts of its activities, products and services;

has identified the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services that it can control and /or influence and determined those that can have a significant environmental impact (including those related to suppliers / contractors);

has procedures in place to identify applicable environmental legislation and other relevant requirements, to determine how these apply to its environmental aspects and to keep this information up to date;

has implemented effective controls in order to meet its commitment to comply with applicable legal and other requirements;

has defined environmental objectives and targets that are measurable, where practicable, taking into account legal requirements and significant environmental aspects, and has programs in place to achieve these objectives and targets;

ensures that people working for or on behalf of the organization are aware of the requirements of its Environmental Management System and are competent to perform tasks that have the potential to cause significant environmental impacts;

has implemented procedures for communicating internally, as well as responding to and communicating (as necessary) with interested external parties;

ensures that those operations associated with significant environmental aspects are carried out under specified conditions and monitors and controls the key characteristics of its operations that can have a significant environmental impact;

has established and (where practicable) tested procedures to address and respond to emergencies that can have an effect on the environment;

periodically evaluates its compliance with applicable legal and other requirements;

aims to prevent nonconformities, and has procedures in place to:

correct any nonconformities that do occur;

analyze the cause of any such nonconformities and take corrective action to avoid their recurrence;

and has implemented effective internal audit and management review procedures.

Why did the Forest Service Seek Environmental Management System Certification?

Fisheries and Land Resources is committed to responsible stewardship of the province's forest land base, sustainability of the resource, and ensuring
forest related activities are conducted under approved environmental procedures. To this effect, and as a commitment outlined in the 2014-2024
Provincial Sustainable Forest Management Strategy,
Growing Our Renewable and Sustainable Forest Economy (5.6 MB), the
branch implemented an Environmental Management System
to assure the citizens of this province that their forest resources are being managed in the most effective and efficient way possible.